(Reuters) -Walgreens Boots Alliance, which is being taken private by Sycamore Partners, beat analysts’ estimates for third-quarter profit on Thursday, as store closures and cost-cutting aided turnaround efforts at the second-largest U.S. pharmacy chain.
The company in March agreed to be taken private by Sycamore Partners for $10 billion, a fraction of the $100 billion the U.S. pharmacy chain was worth a decade ago. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.
Walgreens’ focus on snapping up other pharmacy chains when rivals diversified into insurance or prescription management, coupled with industry wide struggles to attract price-sensitive shoppers and persistently low drug reimbursement rates had weighed on its fortunes.
U.S. retail pharmacy unit reported sales of $30.71 billion for the quarter ended May 31, Walgreens said, beating estimates of $29.01 billion.
The company’s same-store sales increased 10.3% in the quarter.
On an adjusted basis, the company earned 38 cents per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ average estimate of 34 cents per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.
(Reporting by Padmanabhan Ananthan and Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Leroy Leo)
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